It's been a strange gardening season. For the first time, deer discovered the terrace where I grow pole beans on an arch and various vegetables in containers. I've since been vigilant with spraying Liquid Fence, so at least some of the beans will recover. I won't want to spray the foul-smelling stuff on the plants when beans form, however.

Three plantings of morning glories never came up, so I planted more beans on a trellis at one end of the porch. Should be an interesting visual. :-)

I harvested the last of my snow peas last night, and am wondering when would be the best time to plant more. I'm in PA, too (northeast).

My DS and DIL have planted a huge vegetable garden where my DH and I used to grow ours. It's impressive! I have a row in the middle of it, and have planted yellow crookneck squash, cucumbers, and lettuce.

Zinnias and sunflowers, usually my summer mainstays, are sparse this year thanks to greedy wildlife.

Re the cabbage worms, I can recommend Bacillus Thuringiensis. It does a great job, and is compatible with organic gardening.

My backyard garden is fluorishing-heirloom tomatoes, potatoes, mesclun lettuce, radishes, lots of herbs. I was diligent in weeding this year, it's helped a lot. Have had one meal of "New" blue potatoes (or maybe purple?), I have 40 or so tomatoes on the vine. I spent about $30 on tomato plants, so it works out to about 75 cents each. I will ceretainly enjoy the harvest next month. And I made jar tomato sauce this week, added fresh thyme and basil,so delicious. watering has been a issue. I water deeply once or twice a week.

I have 3 tomato bushes. They are so huge and overgrown I can barely get in there to check for tomatoes. It's like a hedge. Yesterday I clipped off some long "branches" to keep them slightly under control. Probably sacrificed quite a few tomatoes, but they are next to rose bushes and will kill the rose bushes.

Some peppers coming. Oregano, thyme look good, parsley is not looking good.

We have two gardens. Our at home garden in the only sunny few feet of sun has huge tomato plants which are producing including a hanging cherry one. We have 15 plants there. Our community garden plot is very prolific. Tons of Zucchini and squash, tomato plants there full of green tomatoes and the we harvested the best beans I ever ate. We have winter squash there as as well as basil and mint. Parsley is not doing well. We have peas too. In our drought we have to water all the time.

Asparagus come and gone (though I saw a few new, small shoots yesterday while pulling the host of large weeds: do weeds come in a quantity called "a host"?).

Radishes came and the ones not pulled have gone to seed ... early planted lettuce didn't grow, second plant just about ready to use.

Planted a lot of peas, only about half a dozen came up, had a delicious feed night before last.

Tomatoes blooming, a few tiny ones in place; beans blooming, a few pods forming.

First planting of corn getting some size to it, soon will put out silk.

Beets and carrots were puny, but after I pulled the weeds they're growing a lot better.

Broccoli spotty, only a few cabbage sprouted, almost no cauliflower.

Peppers didn't come up (as they didn't last year: don't know what's wrong). Cucumbrs usually get blight just as fruit forming.

Late, cool, wet spring - quite a lot of things didn't get planted, including turnips.

When weeding spiny thistles, I follow different procedures, depending on the row: near the bush beans, that require picking on hands and knees and ongoing harvest for several weeks - they get put into a bucket and carried off, sometimes to compost. Near the corn, they can stay on the ground: picking is a one-time occasion per stalk (if the coons don't get there first) and performed while standing.

As for the weeds - one would think that they are performing jump-rope, they hop up so fast!

Question - when the furl of your rake was pushed into the handle in manyufacture, how does one stop it from pulling out, when one pulls the handle? Shouldn't modern technology have figured a better way??

Good wishe for success with your garden.

I find that, after working there for a couple of hours, when I go in and sit down for a short while ...

... when I go to get up, the back and legs seem to do a lot of whining!

Any similar situations around your house?

ole joyful

Lots of little green tomatoes on the vine. I planted a hybrid early variety, I think Early Girl and an heirloom, Cherokee purple this year. I vaguely remember buying one other heirloom but can't remember the name right at the moment. Have one mound of small melons, none on the vine yet and have a volunteer Moon & Stars melon growing out there with no melons yet. Planted some little pumpkins and two mounds of Delicata squash...glanced at the squash last night because I always lose my squash plants to those d@mn vine borers and I'm afraid I have them yet again. I want to cry.